Silver Lining | ʟᴇᴠɪ ᴀᴄᴋᴇʀᴍᴀɴɴ

Chapter 13

Lunch tastes better with the thought of Captain Levi in my head. But after lunch, he tells Mikasa to take over again because he has important business to attend to in his room. I still don't know where his room even is. I still know too little about him, and he still knows too much about me.

But the frustration - sexual and normal - get me to overpower Mikasa once, twice, three times. The back of her uniform is dirty by the time we head inside to shower. I laugh when she walks in front of me, and her back constantly reminds me of her face when I managed to knock her off her feet for the third and final time.

"Enjoy it while it lasts," she says over her shoulder when she hears me snickering again. "Next time, I won't make it that easy for you."

I laugh. "Oh, so that's what it was. You were making it easy for me."

She laughs, too, her shoulders shaking, and my grin widens. I like being someone who makes people laugh. Intentionally, I mean. I think I have always been a source of amusement for people, but it was always at my expense. Until I could escape those bullies at home and come here to the Training Corps, where no one knew where I came from, how I grew up, and how people treated me. Except for Jean, of course, but he's always been the exception.

I take too long in the bath. So long that Historia is banging on the door, telling me to hurry up or she'll miss dinner. But it's hard for me to hurry something as trivial as cleaning. Especially after a day like today. I need to clean off the sweat that's been clinging to my body the whole day, the blood that I can't see but feel tingling, and most importantly the feeling of Levi pressing his chest against my back.

When I'm finally satisfied and clean, I look in the mirror. I grin at my rosy cheeks and wonder if they're rosy because of the hot bath or because of something else. I rub my hair as dry as possible, then braid it again, so it's out of my way for dinner. I know that it's going to be wavy tomorrow if I braid it when still damp, but I barely ever let my hair down apart from at night, so it's not a problem. Long hair as mine is always in the way, which is why people usually cut it short here, or at least short enough, so a ponytail won't be a bother. But I like my long hair. It's the one thing people have always envied me for, and back then, my parents had to cut it off so the boys would stop pulling at it. Now, there are no boys pulling my hair, and I'm finally able to have it as long as I want.

Historia groans when I open the door. I apologize and step aside to let her into the bathroom. She doesn't take as long as I did, and we walk down together. Armin and Eren are talking about something and fall silent when we join them. I furrow my brow, but don't ask.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Eren asks when the rest sits down with us.

"Oh, absolutely," Jean replies with a wide grin at me. "You'll see, I'm going to kill every titan that comes in my way."

Eren and I laugh, but I know that it's for different reasons. Eren laughs because he doesn't believe him and thinks he's being stupid. I laugh because I do believe him and know that Jean means it. I clap Jean on the shoulder and smile. "Right there with you."

His grin widens, then he leans in a little and lowers his voice so it doesn't travel farther than our table. "So you and the captain enjoyed your training, huh?"

I have no control over the blood rushing to my face even though I'm trying to keep my cool. We really need to stop making a scene like this every time we're training! Yesterday, it was him sitting on top of me, and today, it was us being practically glued together.

As if he heard his name being called, Captain Levi enters the room, and it's as if the entire energy shifts. He brings such an impact with him that rushes through the air and right into me. The way my heartbeat accelerates makes me think that maybe I shouldn't get to kiss him, after all. If this is how I'm behaving after only talking to him, then there is no way to say how I'd be after kissing him.